There is an old saying: “Behind every great man; there is a great woman!” More often than not it also rings true that “Behind every great accountant; there is a great accounting system!”
As a Chartered Accountant I’ve been privileged to work in different size companies and industries, and for people from different backgrounds and with different personalities. I’ve worked with some companies that spend 40 days to produce month end reports, and others that insist on reporting one day after month end. One thing that stands out is the enormous difference that an efficient finance team – one that knows how to maximise its use of a good system to provide relevant, timely information, can make.
Recently I attended a fascinating lecture series run by the Institute of Chartered Accounts, Australia (ICAA) which, over six months, delved deep into exploring what it takes to be a CFO of the future. A lot of time was spent discussing ways to improve reporting performance. Of course, this assumes that there is time in a Finance Manager’s day to do these things. Without a good accounting system it is impossible.
I’m sure we all wish that implementing a system like Dynamics NAV was all we needed to do to create the time required to look for performance improvement opportunities and seek that elusive competitive advantage. In reality, it’s essential to have a system like NAV just to ensure that we don’t fall behind. Good processes, well trained staff, and the innovative ways we use the system will separate us from the pack.
Many of Fenwick’s clients have come up with innovative ways of using their systems – bright ideas that have achieved impressive results and delivered competitive advantage. The case studies on our web site provide a glimpse of these.
Having a great accountant and a great accounting system is a start, but finding ways of using it to get ahead of the competition will deliver the real return on your investment.
